Wednesday, October 19, 2016

You already know that Obamacare is unpopular with Americans, hurting more people than it's helping, raising costs, reducing options,
and collapsing under its own weight -- causing the White House to
scramble in search of dubious schemes to temporarily paper over its
failures with tax dollars. Now you can add doctors to the long list of
people who are dissatisfied with the results of Democrats' reckless, promise-breaking, partisan healthcare experiment and federal power grab. Via the Pittsburgh Post Gazette this week, a large majority of American physicians believe the nation's health system is on the wrong path:

A few weeks ago, the Physicians Practice journal
released its seventh annual national “Great American Physician Survey”
of its readers, which revealed doctors’ deep pessimism about trends in
healthcare delivery. One question asked the 1,315 responding
doctors to indicate, on a scale of 1 to 5, the degree they are happy
with the direction healthcare in America is going. The responses
averaged a dismal 1.86...The Physician Practice survey
reflected those frustrations: 40.5 percent said higher deductible
payments and patient costs “represent the largest barrier to patient
care,” followed by the simple high cost of care at 20 percent, for a total of 60.5 percent pointing to finances impacting patients’ care.

The survey found that doctors resent "government intrusion" -- the headline takeaway
from the journal in which it was published -- with frustrations
mounting: "Because of continuing economic and regulatory pressures, 72
percent found the profession more stressful and less lucrative than in
previous years, and a strong majority said they are concerned about the
direction that healthcare is headed." The poll found a plurality of
physicians calling Obamacare a "disservice" to the country, with
slightly fewer calling it 'mostly' good, despite flaws. Just 7.5 percent
offered an unvarnished endorsement of the law. Opinions of Obamacare
may be colored by partisan politics, but the empirical outcomes speak
for themselves. More than six in ten doctors cite lack of affordability
as the number one problem for their patients. The "Affordable" Care Act
at work. And on that same theme, here's the latest news for Michigan consumers:

If you get health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act, you may soon be paying more. State officials have approved an average price hike of 16.7 percent for individuals enrolled through the Affordable Care Act.
“It’s a big increase we haven’t seen. Last year was (a) 2.5 percent
increase. Compared to last year and what we saw the year before, (this
is a) pretty big increase. When you look at other states that
have announced their increases, North Carolina (is) 24 percent (and)
Pennsylvania (is) 33 percent,” said Leslie Muller, an assistant
professor of economics at Grand Valley State University. The increase
was approved by the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial
Services.

More double-digit increases, as we've seen from coast to coast.
This effect will likely force even more younger, healthier consumers
away from the law -- which in turn forces insurers to either request
even bigger rate increases (which feeds the spiral), or stop participating
in Obamacare altogether, due to the massive losses associated with
covering a disproportionately less healthy "risk pool." This is the slow-motion implosion experts have been warning about, borne out by waning enrollment projections. It's why Democrats from Bill Clinton to a Democratic governor are starting to admit
that the Obamacare has been an abject failure on its fundamental
purpose. And it's why Obamacare defenders are trying to blame the GOP
while pushing for even bigger government "solutions"
to "fix" the mess they made. Republicans up and down the ballot should
be focusing on this issue in their campaigns, holding Democrats
accountable for what they've inflicted upon the country. Pennsylvania
Senator Pat Toomey is taking the right approach:

Toomey is also keeping the spotlight on this administration's VA failures, about which the president is not telling the truth:

Many on the Left would like to replace Obamacare with a fully
government-run regime, which would dismantle the employer-based system
with which most Americans are satisfied, and incur massive new taxpayer
costs. But the VA is a microcosm of the single-payer model affecting
men and women about whom there is a bipartisan consensus to assist.
It's badly broken, rife with corruption, and stillcosting veterans their lives. The VA should be reformed and repaired on a small scale, not replicated on a mass scale and forced on every American.

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I’m an American Patriot...part of the grassroots movement of bloggers spreading the truth about the corrupt and traitorous Obama regime and his sanctioned islamization of America. I'm also co-host with Craig Andresen of RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS on American Political Radio. http://tunein.com/radio/American-Political-Radio-s273246/